This excellent book provides a digest of contemporary thinking in relation to the changes facing European landscapes. It is a very ‘European’ book, being grounded on the principles embedded within the European Landscape Convention. It has a strong landscape ecological outlook where nature and culture are the fundamental and interdependent components. The book espouses a message that an interdisciplinary approach is needed for assessment, planning, design and management to provide multifunctional landscapes. It tells a story of identity, character and culture, or ‘ecology, community and delight’, where the functioning of the landscape and its communities are inextricably linked, and where ‘inevitably we are all onlookers and actors at the same time’ (Introduction, p.12). This book cherry picks its way around Europe, but in the 25 chapters (including an introduction and conclusion) it manages to cover a range of landscapes that will interest any professional and academic with a concern for this subject. For those who know little about the landscapes of Europe and European landscape ecological thinking, it could provide enlightenment as to the amount and variety of work that is being done, particularly in relation to the characterization of the territory.

Much of the analysis provides a useful picture of the driving forces, landscape values and valuation that is driving landscape change. There is much about how locals have connected with past and present landscapes and how visitors now see and experience those landscapes. The book provides a mix of historical cultural information, biophysical characteristics and contemporary issues where the problems and challenges raised seem to be much greater than the solutions given. However there are encouraging stories of adaptation and co-evolution between socioeconomic demands and ecological function, and even the development of sustainable systems based on diversification and efficiency, as reported for example in the Spanish dehesa (Chapter 22).

The format encourages browsing; the content demands reflection. All aspects of landscape and identity are covered here. This book also has much to say about representation of landscape and uses many different ways of doing this: maps, photos, poems, prose, sketches, graphs and plans. Each chapter has a similar basic structure: a description of the particular landscape and its context; an analysis of main problems and opportunities; a discussion of landscape change; and finally some conclusions or a summary relating to future potential, likely problems and recommendations. Bas Pedroli's short lyrical vignettes based on his own experiences of travelling through European landscapes and meeting the people who live there provide a reflective tone that is picked up by others in their contributions. The writing conveys a deep sadness for the loss of traditional landscape management, the vanishing landscapes that such management produced and the disappearance of ecology and cultures that developed from this human-nature symbiosis. The picture is predominantly one of fragmentation and decline of habitats, the disappearance of landscape features, such as in the Lombardy landscape (Chapter 6) and the loss of lifestyles that provide that strong connection with the land.

The coverage of Europe is pretty good, ranging from the community-based schemes of Ireland through the new polders of Flevoland and the forgotten landscape of Východné Karpaty of Slovakia, to small farms of central Portugal and the terraced landscapes of Malta. The book is well edited and readable. Additional information is provided in open ‘boxes’ so as not to disturb the narrative of the main text. The book is well illustrated and the images enliven the text, providing a good idea of the context and scale of the landscapes under discussion, as well as the changes that are occurring. The only criticism I would have is that the text is generally rather small. This is particularly a problem with regard to many of the illustration captions and to some of the poetry boxes, which are almost impossible to read.

This book feels like a magnum opus: valuable, interesting and thought-provoking. Students of landscape will find it provides a good grounding in European landscape issues, particularly the policy frameworks and contexts which will satisfy planners. It gives enough hard facts to satisfy the quantitatively minded and enough cultural insight for those primarily interested in the cultural expression of landscape. It also gives plenty of useful references to up-to-date methods of survey and analysis and information on the tools being presently used to record and manipulate data. It does not provide solutions to the problems, but it does suggest ways of working to help communities to find new ways of ‘living the landscape’. The names of many of the contributors to this edited text will be familiar to those working in the field; many of them have been strong advocates for the European Landscape Convention over the years. An enormous amount of work goes into putting together a book such as this. It is a considerable achievement to provide such a coherent message and I would gladly recommend it on this basis alone.